Kazakhstan may pull its small contingent out of Iraq: minister

ASTANA - Kazakhstan is considering pulling its contingent of 27 soldiers out of Iraq, where they are engaged in mine clearing activities, Defence Minister Mukhtar Altynbayev said on Tuesday.
"We must think of withdrawing our forces from Iraq, or of not sending any more after the battalion's mission ends at the end of June," he told reporters.
One member of the Kazakh battalion, which is under Ukrainian command, has been killed during the mission. He died in January when a bomb went off accidentally, also killing eight Ukrainian soldiers.

05/17/2005 12:48 GMT